A RELAXATION room with Harry Potter novels and virtual reality headsets are among the distractions for the Lionesses at their World Cup base in Australia.
The FA provided behind the scenes access to the bolt hole serving as a ‘home away home’ for Wiegman’s trophy-hungry aces.
Sarina Wiegman’s 23-strong squad – who won their opener 1-0 against Haiti on Saturday – and backroom staff have based themselves in Terrigal, 90 minutes north of Sydney.
The set-up at their hotel base features walls and steps adorned with motivational messages created by the Lionesses themselves.
It also has a state-of-the-art coffee machine capable of photographing players and printing images of their faces in their beverages.
Arcade games, table tennis and painting and drawing area among the things provided to help players relax.
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England are also said to have brought more than 1,040 Yorkshire teabags to their camp in case.
Upon entry the first sight that greets visitors is a giant balloon model of a St George’s flag, with the word “England” featured in silver.
And high up on the walls in the foyer are large poster-style photographs of every single member of Wiegman’s Lionesses squad.
Slogans such as “real sisterhood” and “play for the shirt on the pitch, not seat on the plane” are among the affirmations splashed on hotel walls.
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FA women’s technical director Kay Cossington, who led journalists on a tour of England’s camp said: “The spaces on the walls are things that the players own.
“These are quotes and words that have come through from the team.
“They are not things that we’ve actually made up, that’s stuff that the team own and really believe in.”
For Wiegman’s squad one of most poignant items at the base is a commissioned portrait featuring every single player during their childhood years wearing their old grassroots football kits.
Cossington adds: “We all fell in love with this painting when we first saw it.
“It’s about connecting the players back to their grassroots clubs and it’s also honouring how important grassroots football is to the journeys of our professional players.”
Cossington and Lionesses general manager Anja van Ginhoven oversaw the selection of the World Cup base for Wiegman and her side.
They did some of their site planning visits in May last year following conversations with Fifa.
Ginhoven said: “I think we visited about 37 hotels and 23 training grounds in nine days! It was a super intense trip.”
England’s base in Terrigal includes rooms named after domestic women’s football trailblazers and Lioness legends of the past.
Heroines such as England Women’s first skipper Sheila Parker and Mary Phillip, the first black player to captain the side.
And the team’ s tactical planning area has been dubbed The White Room in honour of the Lionesses’ record goal scorer Ellen White who retired last year.
England’s “home away from home” contains the studio where Jill Scott films Lionesses Live.
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The stadium of Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners, where Usain Bolt spent a two-month spell as a player, is serving as the training space for Wiegman’s side.
The Lionesses will play Denmark on Friday, and hope to seal a win that will take them to the top of Group D.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
